Well, it appears no reinforcements are on the way for the Sixers any time soon.
Joel Embiid will miss his seventh straight game with a right oblique strain when the Sixers host the Brooklyn Nets Saturday afternoon. Head coach Nick Nurse told reporters in Detroit Thursday that Embiid would be reevaluated on Friday. As of this posting, there’s been no update provided by the team.
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Centers Adem Bona and Andre Drummond, who both sat out the blowout loss to the Pistons, are considered questionable with respective back issues.
With Tyrese Maxey (pinky), Kelly Oubre Jr. (elbow) and Paul George (suspension) all set to miss the next couple weeks at minimum, Embiid is the Sixers’ only real hope of getting any type of relief. Alas, it does not appear as if Embiid will be available for the team’s home back-to-back this weekend.
The glass half-full outlook is that the Sixers will play three of their next six games against teams that are openly tanking. The glass half-empty outlook is that the Sixers have even struggled with tanking teams in their current state.
In addition to being down Embiid Thursday night in Detroit, the Sixers were missing Bona and Drummond. That meant Dominick Barlow started and played most of the minutes at center while being backed up by Jabari Walker. It’s going to be awfully tough to win games if that arrangement continues.
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The Sixers host the Nets Saturday afternoon and are right back at it against the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday night. After that, they go on a three-game road trip out West beginning with a St. Patrick’s Day matchup against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
The Sixers currently sit at 35-31, ninth in the Eastern Conference. They went from being pretty securely in the top-six to free falling to the bottom of the Play-In. They’re 2.5 games up on the 10th-place Charlotte Hornets.